The present invention relates to an apparatus for brewing infusible plant substances, especially tea.
With the exception of water, tea is the most widely consumed of all beverages. Its world-wide per capita consumption has been estimated at 0.1 liter per day. In western countries tea tends to be brewed at home, however, there is a growing trend for consumers to consume tea out of home in cafes and bars. It is thought that consumers prefer to enjoy a tea experience that involves more than being supplied with a tea bag and hot water. There is therefore a need for an alternative brewing method.
Coffee brewing equipment is a familiar feature of cafes and bars. Tea is however much more sensitive to brewing than coffee. Extended steeping in water often ruins the beverage. Too short a steeping time results in too diluted a drink.
Commercial tea brewing machines are known. For example European patent specification EP 1,020,152 A2 (Unilever) discloses a tea brewing machine comprising a housing and at least one brewing assembly. The brewing assembly includes a brewing cup and means for heating the contents of said brewing cup. The brewing cup includes a filter that defines and separates a first cavity within the brewing cup for containing tea leaves and a second cavity within the brewing cup from which tea leaves are excluded. The housing has water supply means for supplying a predetermined volume of water at a temperature that is suitable for infusing tea leaves, a water supply channel for delivering the water into the first cavity of the brewing cup, and a siphon tube that has a siphoning end that extends orthogonally upward into the second cavity of the brewing cup and a downward projecting dispensing end. The arrangement is such that the tea leaves infuse as the water is supplied into the first cavity of the brewing cup, but once the level of infused tea liquor in the second cavity of the brewing cup rises above the siphoning end of the siphon tube the tea liquor siphons down the siphon tube and is dispensed from the dispensing end of the siphon tube.
While such a machine functions well, its many parts make it expensive to manufacture. Water within the machine can cool as it is pumped around the machine to the brewing assembly so the performance of the machine is often determined by how well the contents of the brewing vessel can be heated as the tea is brewing.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a tea brewing apparatus that is suitable for consistently providing individual servings of high quality freshly brewed tea in a busy shop situation.
It is an alternative and more general object of the present invention to provide a brewing machine suitable for brewing tea that is at least a useful alternative to those currently available.
In broad terms the present invention relates to a tea brewing machine comprising a housing, a vessel for receiving leaf tea, hot water supply means for supplying hot water to the vessel, means for physically agitating the leaf tea within the vessel to maximise the rate and extent of infusion, and a siphon arrangement for siphoning the infusion out of the vessel before it is dispensed.
The leaf tea is preferably agitated by a stirrer or a propeller or by the action of jets of hot water.
The invention can also be said to relate to a mechanised method for brewing tea comprising the steps of loading leaf tea into a vessel, supplying hot water to the vessel to infuse the tea therein, physically agitating the leaf tea within the vessel to maximise the rate and extent of infusion, and siphoning the infused liquid out of the vessel before dispensing it.
xe2x80x9cTeaxe2x80x9d for the purposes of this invention means leaf material from Camellia sinensis var. sinensis or Camellia sinensis var. assamica. It also includes rooibos obtained from Aspalathus linearis. xe2x80x9cTeaxe2x80x9d is also intended to include the product of blending two or more of any of these teas. The leaf material may be substantially fermented i.e. black tea, semi-fermented i.e. oolong tea, or substantially unfermented i.e. green tea. The tea could be a flavoured and/or spiced tea.
xe2x80x9cLeaf teaxe2x80x9d for the purposes of this invention means a tea product that contains one or more tea origins in a substantially uninfused form.
For the avoidance of doubt, the word xe2x80x9ccomprisingxe2x80x9d is intended to mean including but not necessarily xe2x80x9cconsisting ofxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9ccomposed ofxe2x80x9d. In other words, the listed options or steps need not be exhaustive.
All numbers in this description indicating amounts or temperatures of material ought to be understood as modified by the word xe2x80x9caboutxe2x80x9d.
The present invention concerns a method and apparatus for brewing tea. The apparatus is particularly suited for commercial use in a shop or other out-of-home situation but it need not be used exclusively for that purpose.
The method and apparatus of the invention will be described with reference to four preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings.